President Obama pays tribute to Korean War veterans

Jul. 27, 2013

President Barack Obama walks through the Korean War Veterans Memorial after laying a wreath to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the Korean War. / Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Written by

David Jackson and Kimberly Railey

USA TODAY

President Barack Obama said today that veterans of the Korean War deserve better than to be linked to a forgotten war, but instead should be saluted for shining deeds that promoted freedom and democracy.

“Here in America, no war should ever be forgotten,” Obama said at a ceremony for the 60th anniversary of the armistice that ended combat in Korea. “No veteran should ever be overlooked.”

Citing the immense challenges faced six decades ago by troops in Korea — brutally cold winters, muddy rivers, rocky mountains and “the choking dust” of hot summers — Obama praised the veterans for preventing a North Korea takeover of South Korea, and setting the stage for the latter’s emergence as a thriving democracy.

“Your lives hold lessons for us today,” Obama told the crowd gathered at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The Korean War — fought from 1950 to 1953, squeezed between the triumphalism of World War II and the traumas of Vietnam — too often fades from view in American history.

One reason: Many historians have said the Korean War ended in a stalemate along the 38th parallel separating north and south. But several speakers at today’s ceremony referred to it as “the forgotten victory.”

Obama himself disputed the bitter assertion that some soldiers made at the time — “die for a tie.”

Contrasting a vital and prosperous South Korea with the political repression of North Korea, Obama said: “That war was no tie — Korea was a victory.”

Keeping the focus on veterans, Obama avoided some of the political questions still raised by the six decade-old conflict, including how to do deal with North Korea’s nuclear threat, U.S. relations with China, and the question of how long U.S. troops should stay in South Korea.

Historians also say the Korean War should not be forgotten because it is still with us — technically, the war is ongoing. The two sides signed a cease-fire on July 27, 1953 — 60 years ago today — but never agreed on a peace treaty.

North Korea remains a communist nation — one with nuclear weapons. U.S. troops remain in South Korea, policing the demilitarized zone between the two nations.

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“We’re still there,” said Robert Dallek, a historian who has written on the Cold War era, “with concerns about North Korea and its nuclear ambitions and threats.”

North Korea also marked the 60th anniversary of the armistice today, staging a military parade featuring an array of tanks, missiles and fighter jets. Columns of goose-stepping soldiers marched through the main square in Pyongyang, as leader Kim Jong Un saluted them from the reviewing stand.

North Koreans marked the day as “Victory Day in the Fatherland Liberation War.”

More than 36,000 Americans died during the Korean War, with more than 100,000 others wounded. The South Koreans lost some 415,000, and a similar number were wounded.

American veterans who fought in Korea and attended today’s ceremony said they want to be remembered for what they did, stopping the advance of communism in South Korea and setting the stage for its development as a thriving democracy.

“We planted the seed, and the Korean people made it grow,” said Salvatore Scarlato, 80, from Long Island, N.Y. He served with the Marines in Korea in 1952 and 1953.

Scarlato said Obama’s appearance will help veterans perform what he called “a job — our destiny is to make the American people know that the Korean War existed.”

The soldiers said they appreciated Obama’s presence at the memorial, adding it will call attention to their service.

James LaForest, 81, from Vassalboro, Maine, noted that Obama is one of the relatively few presidents who did not serve in the military, and that’s another sign of how the world has changed. LaForest said that “it shows we’re going to have a transition from a military to civilian mind.”

Col. David Clark, who helped organize the ceremony in Washington, said Korea is a “distant place,” and the war wasn’t too popular coming just five years after the end of World War II.

Clark, director of the Defense Department’s 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Commemoration Committee, said he hopes ceremonies like the one today will lead to greater recognition for veterans.

“While it may be forgotten to some, it certainly was a significant war,” Clark said. “Not only did it stop communism, but it saved the Republic of Korea ... and allowed them to become a great nation on the planet and an ally of the U.S.”